I'll take you to the ocean
by Rivaxoruslawless
Summary: Lucy has died in a sacrifice to make Natsu human - but some words were left unsaid. Short one shot AU Features oc Arian


_The clock has struck midnight so many times I can't even count it anymore._

Arian sighed as she forced herself to crawl out of bed. Of course - it had been Lucy's bed as well. Two days had passed since that time, and the wound still plastered itself in her emotions. Lucy had given up all her keys, as well as her life, so that Natsu could be broken from the curse of being END. There were tears shed and anger given that day and is still occurring. Arian hadn't been part of Fairy Tail for long, not since before the war had started and yet Lucy had offered her a place to stay when she had nowhere else to go. Arian could only imagine how Natsu felt - even then it was almost as if this was something that would never go away.

The teenager wandered over towards the desk, a little away from the bed. It was littered with letters that Lucy wrote to her mother, she could feel the familiar tug at her throat as she picked one up, looking at it blindly. It would never be healthy to cry so early in the morning. She had to get back to the guild to help rebuild, everyone was pitching in to build both the guild and the town afterall. Even if it was all with heavy hearts it was something that had to be done, a job that ignores the pain everyone is feeling and still persists to be finished. Arian laid the letter back in it's place on the desk, grabbing her notebook before heading out the door. The bitter cold snapped at her immediately, she watching her breath come out in thick clouds for a moment before setting out. Today was stormy like the rest, just as well as her emotion.

"Hey, Arian how are you doing this morning?" Arian turned her head towards Elfman as she walked up to the temporary booth headquarters they had made. She gave a rather forced smile.

"Doing the best I can…. what's the place I was assigned to today?" She clutched her notebook and pen for a moment. Elfman pointed towards a far corner of the broken building. Natsu was there as well.

"Just cleaning more debri - you're assigned with Natsu today." she felt another part of her heartbreak. Fate had a way of ripping you apart since just earlier she had been thinking about how Natsu was and now she gets to see it first hand. She strained her gaze to look closely upon him and saw that he looked as if a dragon had rammed into him. A visible frown shown on her face as Elfman settled a hand on her shoulder. "Try not to be too hard on him. I know we're all hurting." Arian looked up at the large, kind man for a moment and nodded her head. The best they could do was try to move on after all. Natsu was here because of her. She moved over towards Natsu as he pushed some more broken pieces of building out of the way. Silently she started to work beside him.

It had been maybe thirty minutes before anything was said. Arian didn't want the whole time to be awkward, after all, so she built the courage to speak first, her brown eyes searched over his features as she formed words.

"How are you holding up?" Arian asked. It was a stupid thing to ask; of course he wasn't doing well. However, it made the mage look up towards her. His eyes were red from crying, the edges of them puffed up from irritation. It made her skin crawl for a moment, "We're here for you Natsu." Even though she was sleeping at Lucy's place. The ghost that sat there was clawing at her.

"I'm here because of her…. it should have been me." He shut his eyes as more tears started to fall. All thought or attempt at working was gone from both of their minds as Natsu looked down, lip almost quivering, "I just wish… I could've said ONE more thing to her." Arian sat there for a moment on her knees. Her eyes trailed to the ground and she tried to keep her composure. No one wanted it to be Natsu or Lucy. Yet maybe they would've lost both of them if it had been Natsu. Then something had occurred to her, for just a single moment an idea popped in her head. Arian suddenly stood up, wide eyed; making Natsu blink. "Arian what are you doing?" he asked her.

"I- I'm taking a break." Arian left the area as quick as she could. She walked towards the graveyard - the only place she could think of to go. She stopped in front of Lucy's grave, the dirt still fresh and the stone newly carved. Sitting down she opened her notebook and took in a deep breath to concentrate as she started to write. Biting into her lip, halfway through her writing she felt tears fall down her cheek. The pain that centered through her chest made it difficult to breath through. Finishing the paragraph, she grabbed the piece of paper and placed it between her teeth. Breathing onto it, the thin strands of black ink turned into Lucy's form.

Arian couldn't believe that it had actually worked, but it took most of her magic energy to do this. This wasn't Lucy, she had to remember that it was just ink. However, it was her thoughts; it was Lucy's conscious and spirit that was here. She felt herself start to cry harder, words getting caught in her throat. "Why Lucy?" was all she could muster as Lucy crouched and placed a hand against her cheek, smiling.

"Don't cry, Arian. I'll always be with you even if I'm not here physically." Arian shivered as she lifted a hand to grab the side of Lucy's arm.

"Was there no other way…." Arian choked as Lucy smiled, but her lips gave off a saddened knowing that went was too much for Arian to comprehend.

"I don't know, but if I could make Natsu's life more comfortable. Then that is the decision that I decided to make." The script mage felt anger bubble up slightly.

"More comfortable! Lucy, he loved you! He would've rather he died later then you die to prolong his life." She clenched her teeth as Lucy blinked for a moment. Arian kept her concentration as she heard someone else's voice hit her ears.

"Lucy…." his breath shivered. Arian looked to see Natsu standing at the end of the row of graves. His eyes wide, Arian laughed as she smiled sadly at the turn of events.

"One last thing Natsu." Arian still continued to shake as she lowered her head for a moment. "This is the only chance you have to say what you want, so say the thing you didn't get to before…." Short of breath, she lifted up her head to keep watch on Lucy and Natsu as he ran over and clutched Lucy into his arms. He ran his fingers through her hair and whimpered slightly.

"Don't Natsu, it's okay." She whispered as she wrapped her own arms around him. Lucy smiled, but she started crying herself.

"Please, don't go… Lucy, I love you." He managed to choke out as he tried to keep them as close as possible to each other. Arian watched a smile curl on Lucy's face even wider than before.

"I know you do…. it took you long enough to say it, but I know you do." She pressed her face into his chest. "Natsu, please hold this life I've given to you dear. I've done all I can. I want you to be happy."

"I can only be happy with YOU!" He screamed as Lucy winced slightly. Giving a sigh as she clutched the edge of his scarf. Pulling herself up she kissed him on the lips. It only made his tears worse.

"I can't undo what I already did. You have to take care of everyone." Lucy whispered as she backed away. Arain cursed, her concentration was breaking. The script mage clawed at the ground. "Arian…. make sure Natsu's okay." Lucy said as she looked at her. Arian watched as Lucy started to fade. Natsu tried to keep his hold on her, she returned into ink before vanishing. Arian felt her energy drain as she fell face first into the ground.

"Arian!" Natsu crouched near her as Arian tried to control her breathing. She smiled and shrugged her shoulders.

"I'll be fine." she whispered. The fire mage smiled sadly at her, sniffling a bit.

"Thank you…"

 _Thank you, Lucy._


End file.
